Arthur Balfour

Arthur Balfour (25 July 1848-19 March 1930) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 11 July 1902 to 5 December 1905, succeeding Robert Gascoyne-Cecil and preceding Henry Campbell-Bannerman. Balfour was a member of the UK Conservative Party.

Biography
Arthur Balfour was born in Whittinghame, East Lothian, Scotland on 25 July 1848. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and he entered Parliament in 1874 as the Conservative Party MP from Hertford. Balfour was initially associated with a rebellious group of Conservative MPs called the "Fourth Party", and he served as Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1887 to 1891, succeeding Michael Hicks Beach and preceding William Jackson. Balfour repressed the Home Rule movement in Ireland, earning him the nickname "Bloody Balfour" and a high degree of unpopularity on the island.

Balfour became the leader of the House of Commons in 1891 and succeeded his uncle, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1902. Balfour went on to display the lack of political judgment that became his hallmark, enraging Nonconformists with his 1902 Education Act; this act forced Nonconformists to pay for the upkeep of Anglican schools through taxes. In addition, this act led to the galvanization of the previously-dormant Nonconformist support for the UK Liberal Party. He was unable to prevent deep splits in his party following Joseph Chamberlain's 1903 tariff reform campaign, although he made a significant change to British foreign policy when he entered an alliance with France in 1904.

In 1906, the Conservatives were heavily defeated at the polls, and Balfour attempted to use the House of Lords (described by David Lloyd George as "Mr. Balfour's Poodle") to attempt to block Liberal legislation. He lacked his uncle's command and knowledge of the Lords, and his policy backfired as the Lords' intransigence was used by Prime Minister H.H. Asquith's government to crush their absolute veto over non-financial legislation, annulling the importance of this bastion of conservatism. He resigned the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1911, and Bonar Law took over the leadership. Balfour would use his intellectual skils on on specific policies and departments, returning to office in 1916 as Foreign Secretary. He issued the Balfour Declaration, a declaration that supported the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, and he was also a prominent British representative at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and at the Washington Conference of 1921-1922. He served as Lord President of the Council from 1925 to 1929, and he supported the concept of dominion status, and he inspired the Statute of Westminster, which was adopted a year after his death.